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Hair Love
| producer = | writer = Matthew A. Cherry | starring = Issa Rae | music = | cinematography = | editing = | production companies = | distributor = Sony Pictures Releasing | released = | runtime = 6 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = }} Hair Love is a 2019 American animated short film written and directed by Matthew A. Cherry, and co-produced with Karen Rupert Toliver. It follows the story of a man who must do his daughter's hair for the first time, and features Issa Rae as a voice. The film was produced after a 2017 Kickstarter campaign, and was also released as a children's book in May 2019, with illustrations by Vashti Harrison. Hair Love won Best Animated Short Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. Synopsis Seven-year-old Zuri attempts to style her thick, kinky hair while watching an instructional video narrated by her mother (Issa Rae). Her father, Stephen, attempts to help her, and after much effort, styles her hair. They enter a hospital room where her mother is wearing a scarf and sitting in a wheelchair. Her mother removes her scarf to reveal that her head is completely bald. The family members hug each other. Cast * Issa Rae as Zuri's mother Production Cherry stated that he inspired to create Hair Love to portray a Black fathers outside of stereotypes, because "Black fathers have had one of the worst raps in mainstream media as being portrayed as being deadbeats and not being involved.” He and Toliver also stated that they wanted to increase representation of Black hair. In 2017, Cherry created a Kickstarter campaign for a short animated film called Hair Love. The film is about an African American dad who is attempting to style his young daughter Zuri's hair for the first time. The campaign surpassed its initial goal of $75,000 and raised over $300,000. According to Kickstarter, that exceeds the amount raised by any other short film project on the platform. He co-directed the film with Everett Downing and Bruce W. Smith, with Peter Ramsey and Pixar animator Frank Abney serving as executive producers. The film was co-produced with Karen Rupert Toliver, who Cherry approached her for help. On March 20, 2019, Sony Pictures Animation announced that they had picked up Hair Love, which was slated to be released theatrically later that year. Release The film was shown in theaters alongside The Angry Birds Movie 2 on August 14, 2019, and was later uploaded to YouTube four months later on December 5. The short was eventually attached to later prints of Jumanji: The Next Level beginning on January 24, 2020 and the Blu-ray & DVD prints of The Emoji Movie 2: Dawn of the Internet ''on July 21, 2020. ''Hair Love was storyboarded in Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and animated in Toon Boom Harmony by Six Point Harness animation studio. The film was also adapted into a children's book by Dial Books, written by Cherry and illustrated by artist Vashti Harrison, which was released on May 14, 2019. Kirkus Reviews|language=en}} The book was on the New York Times Book Review Children's Best Sellers list. Accolades See also *2019 in film *''Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' - Sony's 2018 Oscar-winning animated feature also featuring an African-American protagonist *''The ChubbChubbs!'' - Sony's 2002 Oscar-winning short film References External links *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28 Hair Love on Sony Pictures Animation's official YouTube channel] *''Hair Love'' on IMDB *Official website Category:2019 films Category:English-language films Category:2019 animated films Category:2019 short films Category:2010s animated short films Category:American films Category:American animated short films Category:Sony Pictures Animation short films Category:2010s American animated films Category:African-American animated films Category:African-American hair Category:Films about parenting Category:Kickstarter-funded films Category:Best Animated Short Academy Award winners